Most Small Businesses Are Discovered Online First

They still need a mobile-optimized presence

A recent report by eMarketer revealed that more than one-third of US internet users first get information about small businesses when doing online research, according to a survey. Walking into a local store, meanwhile, was the least likely path to discovery.

Vistaprint Digital Services, owned by Cimpress, polled 2,000 US internet users on the impact of an online presence for small businesses during March and April 2016. The results, as shown in the pie chart above, show that 36.7% of respondents said they primarily first find out about small businesses through online research, closely followed by word-of-mouth (35%) and social media (13%). Meanwhile, only 8.4% said they usually found out about such small businesses by walking into the store.
The survey also tracked how often these internet users research a local business online before showing up at its door. Of those polled, 36.4% said they often check out the store online prior to visiting, compared to 7.2%, who said they don’t.

Based on this behavioral research, and the millions of US consumers with smartphones in hand, small businesses should probably be thinking more critically about their mobile presence. In fact, many are already. In a separate study from Yodle, and Research Now 52% of small businesses had a mobile-optimized website in February 2016. However, alarmingly, 40% said they have not optimized their sites yet.

Vincent Totino has been in the Internet Marketing field for 17 years and has experience in almost every type of vertical. Vincent is an avid reader and is always ready to help any small to medium sized business owner with some digital marketing assistance.

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